Got a chance to taste through the Idlewild Spring Release last weekend, a beautiful sunny day and we tasted on their newly built redwood deck. Almost seemed like a “normal” day pre pandemic.
The Spring release typically includes the Flora & Fauna wines and Arneis. A bit different this year, the Spring release includes the F&F wines and a new to Idlewild Piedmont grape Erbaluce (Arneis will be in the Fall release.) The wines are all excellent, the Erbaluce is an eye opener!. Onto the wines:
2020 Erbaluce Fox Hill Vineyard: The whole bunches were foot treaded and left them to macerate for 24 hours before pressing into stainless steel. Upon dryness, the wine rest for 5 months in neutral puncheon before bottling. It’s not too often I say a wine is both fun and serious, this is one of them. Nose of lemon oil, flowers, sea spray. Flavors follow with lemon, quince, dried herbs and a stony minerality that persists. Mouthwatering acidity and a really nice stony finish keeps you coming back for more. We immediately added a couple bottles to my meager allotment. Only 76 cases made and it is likely sold out. 12.1% ABV.
2020 Flora & Fauna Rosé: For 2020 the wine is a co fermented blend of 41% Nebbiolo, 30% Dolcetto and 29% Barbera. It’s designated Medocino County but was told the majority is from Fox Hill Vineyard. Aroma of mandarin, rose petals and spice. flavors of blood orange, citrus pith and slightly green herbs. the 2020 is more savory than the fruity 2019 and is more the style we enjoy. This has bright acidity that leads to a crisp clean finish. A warm weather must have. 11.9 ABV
2020 Flora & Fauna White Wine: For 2020, the blend consists of roughly 40% Arneis, 40% Muscat Canelli (a.k.a Muscat Blanc, Moscato Bianco), 10% Cortese, 10% Erbaluce, and 10% Favorita (a.k.a. Piedmontese biotype of Vermentino). As you would expect this wine is wildly aromatic. While muscat canelli is not my favorite variety this wine shows balance that doesn’t put it front and center. Orange blossom, honeysuckle and spicy ginger nose. Flavors of unripe nectarine, honey, sweet ginger and a stony mineral finish. Great acidity, would pair with many foods, especially Asian cuisine. 11.4 ABV
2020 Flora & Fauna Red Wine: For 2020, the blend is comprised of roughly 48% Dolcetto, 48% Barbera, and 4% Nebbiolo. The fruit comes from Fox Hill Vineyard and Lost Hills Ranch. Interesting that the aroma on this wine shows the nebbiolo (which is only 4%). Nose of Bing cherry, iron, dried herbs and graphite. Flavors follow with the Dolcetto and Barbera kicking in. Black cherry, wet soil, plum and floral notes on the palate. Lot’s of acidity and some tannin add to the complexity. The 2020 is more savory than the fruiter 2019 and that savory style is what we love about this wine. Very good value and a versatile food wine. 12.9% ABV.
Another great release from Idlewild, a winery I can honestly say “I followed from the very start”. I saw Sam Bilbro (Owner-Winemaker) for a few minutes last week and he was carrying a large batch of various bud wood from Italy that had been released from Davis after several years of testing and quarantine. Some very exciting vintages coming up for Idlewild and Sam gave a big shout out to Bryan Harrington who did all the leg work with these new Italian Wine varieties.
Below is everything you wanted to know (or not know) about Erbaluce but first a disclaimer that I put forth each year. I have been an Idlewild buyer since 2012 and know Sam Bilbro from that first visit 9 years ago. My son Thomas has been at Idlewild since June of 2018. Many of you may know him from his postings on this and other wine forums. His working there has zero influence on how I view the wines. Just wanted to be transparent about this. Thomas is the resident wine geek at Idlewild, this piece on Erbaluce shows that for sure ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
From left to right: 2018 Flora & Fauna Sparkling Wine (not tasted), 2020 Erbaluce, 2020 F&F Red Wine, 2020 F&F Rosé, 2020 F&F White Wine.
That said, without further ado, a little bit (actually a lot) about Erbaluce…
Like most things that originate in the mountainous north of Italy, there is an unusual mythology to describe how things came to be. You’ll often find gnomes and giants in the stories of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta; they’re even depicted on the labels of some of our favorite wines of the region! According to Piedmontese legend, gods and nymphs once dwelt on the hills of Caluso. Amongst those gods were the Dawn and the Sun who fell in love from a distance, yet their destiny forced them to never meet. However the goddess Luna (the moon) had other plans and played matchmaker during an eclipse. Their daughter Albaluce, a nymph, was therefore conceived and born (Alba – Dawn; Luce – Light). Stunned by Albaluce’s beauty and grace, the men living in the Piedmont hills offered her everything they had, until they had to look for new fertile lands to cultivate. At one point, they even diverted the lake, and the resulting flood killed all of their crops. Albaluce’s sorrow from the loss was so deep that her tears saturated the soil, and from the earth a vine sprouted in her name.
In the 1800’s, there were more than 10,000 hectares of Erbaluce planted. However, the tragedy of phylloxera was perhaps the most damning in the Alto-Piedmonte. Unlike most wine producing regions that immediately replanted on American rootstock, nearly all of the 250,000 acres of vineyards in the north were abandoned. It was just too difficult to replant in such rugged mountainous conditions without machinery or money to do so. Most families moved to Milan to work in textile factories during the industrial revolution. The happy ending to this tragic tale is that from that chaos and upheaval we got the gift of Langhe as those families moved west and began to plant Nebbiolo once again.
And now, 120 years later, we are seeing a resurgence back in the alpine north of Piedmont. Families are heading north to reclaim vineyard land that has been swallowed by forest. Historic producers and cellars are once again producing wine after a century of remaining fallow. The phoenix that has shined brightest however, is Erbaluce. Native to Caluso of the Canavese region (surrounding Turin), Erbaluce di Caluso is the only Italian white grape variety that is a DOCG for Sparkling wine, Passito, and still table wine. It’s virtues have been written about in ancient texts dating back to 1606, extolling its remarkable acidity and “aroma of rock and the earth.” No doubt that natural acidity has inspired wine makers to produce noble sparkling wines of character and passito wines that are both intensely sweet yet refreshing, but perhaps the current generation of Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG producers are making the most interesting interpretation of the grape.
When yields are limited in the vineyard and when handled in the cellar with the intention of building texture, Erbaluce di Caluso table wines are a revelation. You often will find the length and palate pressure of flinty Chablis, flavors that are rich and saturating like a luxurious Chenin, and aromas that are all alpine wildflowers, petrichor, and snow melting on river rocks like your favorite Valle d’Aosta or Savoie white wine. So many characteristics of our favorite wines are working in tandem here; to sum it up in a single word, it can be downright haunting. It is just so… Idlewild.
There are less than 190 hectares planted in native Caluso today and from what we can tell from our research, we are the first domestic producers to bottle Erbaluce. Yields were modest, we foot tread all fruit and allowed it to macerate on skins and stems for 30 hours to build some phenolic texture and widen the mouth feel, and then aged the wine for five months in neutral puncheon to further broaden the wine. What’s in the bottle now strongly reminds us of our favorite alpine producers… and we couldn’t be more thrilled to share this with you today.
The 2020 Idlewild Erbaluce is included in your Spring Allocation